Ammunition Hill (, Giv'at HaTahmoshet) was a fortified Jordanian military post in the northern part of Jordanian-ruled East Jerusalem and the western slope of Mount Scopus. It was the site of one of the fiercest battles of the Six-Day War. Ammunition Hill is now a national memorial site.

Historical background

<!-- Deleted image removed: thumb|250px|left|Restored trenches at Ammunition Hill -->

Ammunition Hill was located west of a police academy, with a fortified trench connecting them. The site was built by the British during their Mandatory Palestine in the 1930s, and was used to store the police academy's ammunition. The Jordanian Arab Legion seized control of the hill during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, severing the link between Mount Scopus and West Jerusalem. In the wake of the 1949 Armistice Agreements, parts of Mount Scopus remained an Israeli enclave in Jordanian-held territory, with the Jordanians blocking access to Hadassah Medical Center and the campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on the hilltop. The main ceremony on Jerusalem Day is held here.

In April 2019, Israel honoured Lieutenant General J. F. R. Jacob of the Indian Army with a commemorative plaque on the Ammunition Hill Wall of Honour.

An estimated 200,000 visitors tour the site each year, including 80,000 soldiers. Ammunition Hill is also the main induction center for IDF paratroopers.

In October 1967, several veterans of the battle were interviewed in the IDF magazine Bamahane. These interviews formed part of the basis for the lyrics of Yoram Taharlev's song Ammunition Hill (), which was performed by the Central Command Band.

References

Further reading

  • Eli Landau, Jerusalem the Eternal: The Paratroopers' Battle for the City of David, Otpaz, Tel Aviv, 1968 – contains a detailed account of the Ammunition Hill action; by a journalist who was a former paratrooper who was present
  • J. Robert Moskin, Among Lions: The Definitive Account of the 1967 Battle for Jerusalem, Arbor House, New York, 1982 – based on interviews with participants
  • Abraham Rabinovich, the battle for Jerusalem: June 5–7, 1967, Jewish Publication Society of America, 1972, <!-- Yes, there is a lower-case 'the' --> – based almost entirely on about 300 individual interviews
  • Lyrics of the Hebrew song "Giv'at HaTachmoshet" ("Ammunition Hill") in English translation
  • Ammunition Hill Memorial website
  • Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Address at the Jerusalem Day Ceremony at Ammunition Hill (June 6, 2005)